JP2573602B2 - Endoscope - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an endoscope in which at least a part of an insertion portion is forcibly bent.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, in the insertion portion of the endoscope, a bending portion is formed in the vicinity of the distal end in order to change the direction of the distal end, and the bending portion is operated via an operation wire pushed and pulled by an operation at the hand side operation portion. It can be bent remotely.

The curved portion is formed by pivotally connecting a large number of bending pieces arranged along the longitudinal direction thereof to form a bendable core material, and a net tube and an outer skin are sequentially attached to the outer periphery of the core material. It is.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in the bending portion of the above-mentioned conventional endoscope, an indirect mechanism in which a large number of bending pieces are pivotally connected to each other is used as a core material. There is a limit in reducing the diameter, and it has been difficult to reduce the diameter more than a certain value. In addition, recently, there has been an increasing demand for using an endoscope for various organs.

Therefore, an endoscope using a so-called multi-lumen type resin tube (having a lotus root-shaped hole) for an insertion portion has been proposed. The coil was bent by inserting the coil into the lumen (channel).

However, in this bending operation method, the bending direction is not clear at the hand side, and it is difficult to specify the bending direction. In addition, since the degree of bending is hard to be determined, there is a disadvantage that reliable operation cannot be performed and operability is poor.

On the other hand, even in an endoscope in which the bending piece is used as a core material of the bending pipe portion, when an operation wire is passed through the bending pipe portion, the operation wire utilizes a guide ring attached to each of the bending pieces. And are partially guided. Therefore, the configuration of the bending piece itself becomes complicated, and the guide ring or the like may partially protrude and damage the built-in components such as the image guide fiber.
There is a disadvantage that the diameter cannot be sufficiently reduced.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope which can easily and reliably bend an insertion portion and achieve a reduction in the diameter of the insertion portion. It is in.

[Means and actions for solving the problems]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an endoscope in which a bending operation wire is inserted in an insertion portion, wherein a guide coil for guiding the bending operation wire is provided in the insertion portion. In the coil for use, the portion corresponding to the curved portion of the insertion portion is made to be loosely wound, and the pitch of the loosely wound portion of the coil is arbitrarily changed.

The bending portion of the insertion portion can be bent by pushing and pulling the bending operation wire at the hand side, and the bending portion can be set to be bent in a desired state.

〔Example〕

1 to 4 show a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows the endoscope 1. The endoscope 1 includes an insertion section 2 and an operation section 3, and the operation section 3 is provided with an eyepiece 4, an insertion port 5, and a bending lever 6. Also,
A light guide cable (not shown) is connected to the operation unit 3. The insertion section 2 is divided into a flexible section 7, a bending section 8, and a tip section 9 from the operation section 3 side at hand.

Further, the main body of the insertion section 2 is constituted by one so-called multi-lumen tube 11. The multi-lumen tube 11 is a resin tube of a type in which a plurality of lumens 12 are formed in a lotus root shape. In this embodiment, five lumens 12 are formed. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, they are arranged at the center, up, down, left and right. An image guide fiber 13 is inserted into the center lumen 12, and the tip of the image guide fiber 13 is optically connected to an objective lens 14 provided at the tip of the same lumen 12. The objective lens 14 is fixed by a cylindrical lens frame 15. The proximal end of the image guide fiber 13 extends to the eyepiece 4 through the operation section 2 and is optically connected to an eyepiece optical system (not shown). The light guide fiber 16 is inserted into the left lumen 12. The base end of the light guide fiber 16 extends to a light guide cable so as to guide illumination light from a light source (not shown). The right lumen 12 is opened as it is, and communicates with the insertion port 5 to form an insertion channel 17 for a treatment tool or the like.

On the other hand, bending coils 18, 18 are inserted into the upper and lower lumens 12, 12, respectively, as shown in FIG. The bending coils 18, 18 are densely wound at a portion corresponding to the flexible portion 7 of the insertion portion 2, and are loosely wound at a portion corresponding to the bending portion 8. The distal ends of the bending coils 18, 18 are fixed to the distal end of the insertion section 2 by solid agents 19, 19, respectively. Moreover, the tips of the upper and lower lumens 12, 12 are closed by the solid agents 19, 19, respectively. The boundary between the tightly wound portion 20 and the loosely wound portion 21 of the bending coils 18, 18 is fixed by solid agents 23, 23 poured into side holes 22, 22 formed in the rear end side wall of the bending portion 8. ing. Bending coil 1
The base ends of 8, 18 are fixed to a member (not shown) in the operation unit 3.

Further, operation wires 24, 24 are inserted through the bending coils 18, 18, respectively. As shown in FIG. 1, the distal ends of the operation wires 24 are fixed to the distal ends of the bending coils 18 by the solid agents 19, respectively. The proximal ends of the operation wires 24, 24 are guided to the operation section 3 and connected to, for example, a pulley of an operation mechanism (not shown) interlocked with the bending lever 6. The operating mechanism is operated by the bending lever 6 to operate the operating wires 24, 24.
Are pushed and pulled alternately.

Thus, by operating the bending lever 6, one operation wire 24 is pulled, and the other operation wire 24 is extended. Then, the operation wire pulled as shown in FIG.
On the 24 side, the tightly wound portion 20 of the bending coil 18 is in close contact, and the force is transmitted to the distal end side, the pitch of the loosely wound portion 21 is reduced, and the bending portion 8 is bent. That is, the bending portion 8 is reliably bent in accordance with the amount of pull-in of the operation wire 24. At this time, since the operation wire 24 is inserted into the bending coil 18, it does not directly touch the inner surface of the multi-lumen tube 11, so that
The inner surface of the tube is not shaved by the operation wire 24.

 FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment of the present invention.

This embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the pitch of the loosely wound portions 21 of the bending coil 18 is not uniform,
That is, it was made denser toward the tip. In this way, when the operation wire 24 is pulled in, it starts to bend from a dense portion with a higher flexibility pitch. That is, the bending portion 8 is gradually bent from the distal end side. Accordingly, by bending the distal end side in this manner, the insertability into a narrow part in the body cavity is good, and the bending operation can be performed safely.

 FIG. 6 shows a third embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the wire at the densely wound portion 20 of the bending coil 18 is thick, and the wire at the loosely wound portion 21 is thin. Therefore, the bending of the bending portion 8 is light, the rigidity of the loosely wound portion 21 is high, and the portions other than the bending portion 8 are hardly bent when the operation wire 24 is pulled, so that the operability can be improved. In addition, even when the densely wound portion 20 is not completely in close contact, it can be curved. Further, the cross-sectional shape of each of the strands is made to be a rectangular shape, so that lateral displacement when adjacent strands are brought into close contact can be prevented.

In addition, at the forefront of the bending coil 18, the element wire is tightly wound so as to be easily fixed securely.

Further, in the loosely wound portion of the bending coil, the wire diameter may be reduced toward the distal end. With this configuration, when the operation wire is pulled, the operation wire starts to bend from a portion having higher flexibility, that is, from the distal end side.

In each of the above embodiments, the bending coil and the operation wire are provided respectively, and the system can be bent in any of the upper and lower directions. However, one set of the bending coil and the operation wire is provided to bend only in one direction. It may be something.

 FIG. 7 shows a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

The endoscope 1 of this embodiment uses a large number of bending pieces 30 as a bending core material in the bending portion 8 of the insertion portion 2. That is, the bending pieces 30 are not arranged in a line along the longitudinal direction of the insertion portion 2, and adjacent bending pieces 30 are pivotally connected to each other by the shaft pin 31 so as to be rotatable. This curved piece 30
The outer periphery of the bending core made of is covered with a blade 32 and an outer skin 33. Further, the distal end portion 9 of the insertion section 2 is connected to the most advanced bending piece 30. The flexible tube 7 of the insertion section 2 is connected to the rearmost bending piece 30 via a connection tube 34.

Further, a pair of upper and lower operation wires 35 and 36 for bending operation are inserted into the insertion portion 2. This each operation wire 3
As shown in FIG. 7, reference numerals 5 and 36 deviate upward and downward in the inner cavity of the insertion portion 2, and each end thereof is attached to a fixture 37 or 38 provided on the inner surface of the bending piece 30 at the foremost end. Is being worn. The rear ends of the operation wires 35 and 36 are guided into the operation section 3 of the endoscope 1 and connected to a bending operation mechanism (not shown). By operating the bending operation mechanism with the bending lever 6, the operation wires 35 and 36 are pushed and pulled to bend the bending portion 8 of the insertion portion 2 in the vertical direction.

The operation wires 35 and 36 are connected to coils 41 and 42, respectively.
Is guided through. In each of the coils 41 and 42, a portion corresponding to the flexible tube 7 of the insertion portion 2 is formed as a tightly wound coil portion 43, and a portion corresponding to the curved portion 8 of the insertion portion 2 is formed as a loosely wound coil portion 44. is there. Close coil winding 43
Are fixed to the inner surface of the connection pipe 34 by brazing.

Further, the winding pitch of the loosely wound coil portion 44 is not equal, and is gradually reduced (closely wound) from the base end to the distal end.

According to the above configuration, since the coils 41 and 42 are formed as the tightly wound coil portions 43 in the flexible tube 7 of the insertion portion 2, the coils 41 and 42 receive a compressive force when pushing and pulling the operation wires 35 and 36. The compression force is not applied to the flexible tube 7 itself. Therefore, the push / pull operation amount of the operation wires 35 and 36 is transmitted accurately. Also, the flexible tube 7 is not unnecessarily bent.

On the other hand, in each of the coils 41 and 42, a portion corresponding to the bending portion 8 of the insertion portion 2 is formed as the loosely wound coil portion 44, so that the bending action of the bending portion 8 is not impaired. Further, the pitch of the loosely wound coil portion 44 is gradually reduced on the distal end side and densely wound, so that the distal end side is easily curved. Therefore, the bending portion 8
Starts to bend from the tip side with a close pitch.

As described above, since the bending portion 8 starts to bend from the tip, a good bending state around the body cavity is obtained, and the observation performance is improved.

 FIG. 8 shows a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

This embodiment is a modified example of the loosely wound coil portion 44 of the coils 41 and 42 in the fourth embodiment, in which the winding pitch is changed stepwise without being continuously changed. That is, the loosely wound coil portion 44 is divided into a plurality of portions 44a, 44b, 44c, 14
, and the pitch in each of the portions 44a, 44b, 44c,... is equal, but as it goes to the distal end side, each of the portions 44a, 44b, 44c,
The pitch of ... is reduced.

With this type, the same operation and effect as in the fourth embodiment can be obtained. Also, like this, each part 44a, 44b, 44c, ...
If it is divided into several, it can be made by pulling several pitches at a time, which makes production easier.

 FIG. 9 shows a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

This embodiment is different from the coils 41 and 42 in the fourth embodiment described above.
The tightly wound coil portion 43 and the loosely wound coil portion 44 are separated from each other, and the loosely wound coil portion 44 is fixed to the bending piece 30 at least with respect to the bending piece 30 at the rearmost end by solder, adhesive, or the like 50. ing. According to this embodiment, since the closely wound coil portion 43 and the loosely wound coil portion 44 of the coils 41 and 42 can be separately formed, the production is easy.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the guide coil for guiding the bending operation wire is provided in the insertion portion, and the guide coil has a portion corresponding to a portion of the insertion portion to be bent, and the coil is loosely wound. Since the pitch of the winding portion is set to be arbitrarily changed, the bending portion of the insertion portion can be bent by pushing and pulling the bending operation wire at the hand side, and the bending portion is desired. Can be set to bend in the state of. Further, the bending portion of the insertion portion can be easily and reliably bent.

In addition, since the operation wire is inserted into the coil, it is possible to improve durability and reduce the diameter of the insertion portion without shaving the inner surface of the insertion portion or preventing interference with the built-in object. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 is a side sectional view of the vicinity of the distal end of the insertion section of the first embodiment, FIG. 2 is a side view of the entire endoscope, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the distal end of the insertion section, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a side cross-sectional view of the vicinity of the distal end of the insertion portion of the second embodiment, FIG. 6 is a side cross-sectional view of the vicinity of the distal end of the insertion portion of the third embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 8 is a side sectional view of the insertion portion of the fourth embodiment, and FIG.
The figure is a side sectional view of the coil of the fifth embodiment, and FIG. 9 is a side sectional view of the insertion portion of the sixth embodiment. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Endoscope, 2 ... Insert part, 7 ... Flexible part, 8 ... Curved part, 9 ... Tip part, 11 ... Multi-lumen tube,
12 ... lumen, 18 ... bending coil, 20 ... tight winding part, 21 ... loose winding part, 24 ... operation wire, 30 ... bending piece, 35, 36 ... operation wire, 41, 42 ... … Coil, 43… Closely wound coil part, 44… Sparsely wound coil part.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Tsuruo Hatori 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Kunio Ohno 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masahiro Kawashima 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-55-8709 (JP, A) 1983-103431 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An endoscope having a bending operation wire inserted through an insertion portion, a guide coil for guiding the bending operation wire through the insertion portion is provided in the insertion portion, and the guide coil is provided in the insertion portion. An endoscope wherein a portion corresponding to a portion to be curved is sparsely wound, and a pitch of the sparsely wound portion of the coil is arbitrarily changed.